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The big five animals, lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros are regarded as the most dangerous to humans. In the four weeks we spent on our African safari, we only felt threatened on a very few occasions.
We had a run in with a couple of rhinoceros, the odd elephant and some rather large cats, (some little birds were non too friendly, either) but the most common cause of us retreating tactically was the buffalo.
We never got into what I would regard as a particularly serious situation - we were required to move away if anything we did directly affected the behaviour of the animal - but certainly buffalo would occasionally make it plain to us that we were not welcome.
In return, we felt that the cape buffalo was a dirty, smelly and unfriendly animal. Quite reminded me of the mother in law and what we had to look forward to when we got home.
The two buffalo at the bottom both made us feel remarkably unwelcome and we didn't feel the need to intrude where we were not wanted. In fact we left both of them at high speed!
The flat plate between the horns is used as a battering ram then, once you are down, the horn tips become the weapon of choice. On the older buffalo the curve of the horns causes the tips to grow closer together, whereby the tips can no longer be used as an effective weapon. Once this happens the buffalo can no longer hold its position in the hierarchy and may be forced out of the harem which it has established for itself.
This does not make them more friendly!!
Amboseli National Park was one of our top three destinations, alongside Sweetwater and Masai Mara.
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